aside has created a new promotional code in collaboration with Dreamhost, which gives you $10 off from any of the hosting packages you choose. The promo code to be entered on Dreamhost’s website to avail this offer is aside2008

Dreamhost is a hosting provider based in the United States. I’ve been with them since March 2005. Excellent support even for newbies.
I have registered all my .com domain names with them and host my .in domains with them as well.

The image below will show you the features Dreamhost provides [ which, by far, are the most extensive I've seen for any hosting provider. ] I recommend Dreamhost to all clients and friends for their ease of use, functionality and features and reasonable prices.

Clicking on the image will take you to the Dreamhost website where you will be able to see the feature list in detail and also see the price packages available with them. A screenshot of their pricing is as follows :

aside has created a new promotional code in collaboration with Dreamhost, which gives you $10 off from any of the hosting packages you choose. The promo code to be entered on Dreamhost’s website to avail this offer is aside2008

And the wallpaper that I made after editing the illustration in Illustrator and Photoshop. [ Download the wallpaper at the end of this post on aside. ]

1980. Micro-tip pen in A4 paper.

More details on the aside blog here and here.

Three Indian artists have sold their paintings for a total of $70 Million via an auction on Christie’s. The complete article as reported by DNA can be found here.

I managed to get thumbnails of what the paintings look like - none of the news stories were carrying the pictures and they are as following:

Chintan Upadhyay : Mutant

Ashim : Fake Error

Harsha : Melting Wit

It does get better and better for Indian Art and Indian artists. The above artists are supposed to be “new” on the scene and not in the league of Raza or Hussain but have done exceedingly well in the auction. One of the factors that might contribute to an artist’s paintings’ popularity might be the name of the painting - or it seems from the above.

This is done on 20 cms x 30 cms handmade cotton-waste art paper using pencils.

This is done on an 20 cms x 30 cms sized handmade cotton waste art paper using ink and felt pens.

I’ve never done a Ganesha earlier so am not even familiar with the various elements. I started with a dirty sketch in Photoshop based on the elements in a Ganesha picture that had top-of-the-mind recall. Following will show you just how bad my drawing skills really are!

Then I wanted to refine the drawing of these elements and came up with the following one-page sketch.

I then moved to the Canvas board and pencil sketched the outlines.
I laid out some gesso for texture on the white space outside of the Ganesha drawing and acrylic-painted the outlines of the Ganesha in a number 26 black.

I’ve shot the photograph but developing the film is going to take sometime. I’ll keep shooting at various stages of the painting and once the film is developed [ which will happen probably once the painting's actually done ], I’ll upload the photographs and update this post with the complete process.

This was the first stage of the painting.

This was phase two.

I’ve finished the painting [ and it's been sold already too! Yay! ]
I took photographs at some particular stages of the painting but with my Analog Fuji SLR so those shots are going to take time to be developed. Meanwhile I’d shot the final painting with my Nokia N72’s 2 megapixel camera and here’s the picture:

And here’s some more detail

This is the largest canvas I’ve done so far : acrylics on canvas board. Size : 60.96 cms x 91.44 cms or 24 x 36 inches. [ I use the Tri-Star Colman 100% canvas boards - their grain is better than the ones made by Camlin ].

The final painting.

UPDATE : September 07

I’ve bought the painting back from the original buyer after the got reviewed in the Mumbai Mid-day. The midday article is below and clicking on it will take you to a larger picture of the article.